Faller Car System and Tomytec Moving Bus

[AhmadKane]

Hey guys

 

I saw the Tomytec moving bus and I'm really interested in using them. I'm thinking of buying set A to fit the small city space of my layout. But I also saw the Faller moving car system. 

 

I find them really similar. It's just that Tomytec has road plates and Faller uses contact track cables. Do they work the same way? And could I mix them both? Indonesia doesn't have a lot of tomytec, and the moving bus system really relies on those road plates, 

[roadstar_na6]

From 1zu160.net:

 

Wenn man bei den Faller Fahrzeugen einen zusätzlichen Magnet auf die Lenkung setzt, fahren sie auch auf den Tomytec Strassen. Umgekehrt muss man bei dem Tomytec Bus einen kleineren Magnet, 3 x 1 mm, einbauen, damit er auf dem Faller Car System fährt.

 

If you glue an additonal magnet to the steering of the Faller chassis they‘ll drive on the Tomytec tracks. For the other way around the Tomix chassis will need a smaller 3x1mm magnet in order to work with the Faller Car System.

[AhmadKane]

I suppose its because the tomytec contact track is deeper placed within the roadplates

[cteno4]

Yep, Tomytec is in a deeper road plate and has a stronger steering magnet. You can also roll your own streets of thin styrene and just glue your own wire under it or do the old fashion faller cut a groove in your existing roadway and patch it. Lots of fun options with doing your own to make more realistic corners and turns, you can make points, loopback Ys etc. Tomytec busses also have the sensors to do better stops that the old fallers. The Tomytec busses ran much better on the test roads I made up than the old faller did and I could get some Harper angles w.o it loosing the guide wire.

 

there are a few large threads here on the forum on the Tomytec busses just do an AND search.

 

jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

Faller also has a digital version these days, which uses mini satellites to create a local GPS like system. It's a wee expensive though, a starter set costs like 700 euro, and that's without vehicle 😄

 

[James-SNMB]

There's also Magnorail, which uses a chain and sprocket system to pull magnets under the road/surface. The advantage is that you could use it for any model you wanted to make move, and all you need is a magnet. No expensive motorized chassis or tiny batteries to deal with. So adding vehicles would be cheap!

 

It is a lot of gear to stuff under the layout, and it seems like you'd have to plan it out from the beginning when you build the bench work, unlike the Tomytec or Faller systems that you can easily add on top.

 

Looks really cool though, and there's some good examples out there. Just do a search on YouTube. Here's a couple:

 

Not the solution for every application, I'm sure, but the videos show how many different things suddenly become possible with this system. Cars, boats, bicycles, even figures. I had been thinking of a system like this in my head for years trying to figure out how I'd get it to work when it suddenly showed up on YouTube as a smoothly operating commercial product, so I'm pretty excited to try it one day.

[brill27mcb]

If you do want to try the Magnorail system "one day" you may have to buy the materials now. Products like this can suddenly disappear and be unavailable. The hard part would be figuring out now exactly what you need for "some day."

 

Rich K.

[Kamome]

One British model railway YouTube channel “Everard Junction“ used the Magnorail system with a number of his Oxford Diecast cars in OO gauge. Quite a good channel for weathering and scenery if you like the decaying futility of 80s British Rail. Having grown up in Southern England I remember those horrible NSE slam door trains well. 
 

The Faller system has been around for a long time, certainly remember seeing it on display at The Engine Shed model shop in the mid nineties.
 

Not sure what is happening with the Tomytec system. Most of the model shops I’ve been in seem to have very little track and have extremely limited stock of the motor units over the last couple of years. I do like the simplicity of it but wonder how easily it would be to recreate with some wire, magnets and plasti-card road surface.

[James-SNMB]

12 hours ago, brill27mcb said:

Products like this can suddenly disappear and be unavailable.

 

This thought had been quietly lingering in the back of my mind. I'll have to wait at least a few years though, I've just got too much else to do/spend money on and no place for it in my current layout. Hopefully it sticks around, otherwise I'll have to make do without.